5 things UX Designers have in common with Advertising Creatives

Roger Saxby Heath
Aug 9, 2017 · 3 min read

“Should’ve been here yesterday” — annoying phrase surfers are all too familiar with.

Firstly, before we get into the list, stop it already with the end is nigh for UX Designers! Having missed out on the Golden Age of Advetising – when every car in the agency car park was a Porsche and every lunch was long, the last thing I want to hear as I begin my new career, is that I’ve just missed out on the Golden Age of UX too.

Thankfully it seems the role of UX Designer is simply evolving, not becoming extinct. So I'll stop panicking.

And what’s even better news is the fact I can apparently bring some of my previous advertising creative skills over with me from the dark side. They may even give me a competitive advantage. So what are they?

1. Copywriting. It seems the role of copy in great UX Design has so far taken a bit of a back seat in the whole process and almost an afterthought! Sweeping generalisation yes, but my hypothesis anyway. I’m including the spoken word (voice) in this category and all its future AI applications.

Bringing writers in at the end of the creative process, is like trying to put toothpaste in to a tube. (John Steinbeck)

2. A healthy ‘scepticism’ of marketing departments populated by millennial Marketing Grads still wet behind the ears. Yes I know I will probably regret this statement (and most words that end in ‘ism’ are bad), but let me elaborate. Scepticism, when not overly negative, is a good thing. It’s more of a ‘question everything’ sort of a deal, rather than a ‘what do you know anyway’ thing.

3. A love of problem solving. Any creative worth their salt loves to sink their teeth into a juicy problem, no matter how small or large. We love to tackle them all, and the more impossible they seem to solve the better. Apparently this can become quite annoying for partners, who may just want to discuss stuff rather than want a solution to everything.

4. An absolute fascination with the human condition and all its weird and wonderful behaviours. Just about ervery great ad ever written is based on a true human behavioural insight. For example this old Bill Bernbach ad below (ancient now), for Avis who were always number two to Hertz. And yes, I do realise no one reads copy anymore.

5. Creating stuff people love, not just want. From what I can see so far the difference between a good UX Designer and a great one, is the same as the difference between a good creative and a great one. We want to make stuff that people love, not just need or want.

There was going to be a Number 6. on the list, which is probably the most contentious one of all, but the boss man from Google Australia said five is the optimum number for an article, so I kept Research down here.

The ‘R’ word usually strikes fear into every adland creative’s heart, as it usually means people who’ve got nothing better to do than turn up and crucify your ad in exchange for scoffing free pizza. The type of research UX Designers and creatives do have in common is digging deep and researching the product/service, its users, rewriting the client brief and getting to the bottom of what exactly the problem is, before even thinking about trying to solve it.

So as it turns out, I already have these and other existing strengths I can build upon, all of which can stand me in good stead as a UX Designer. And rather than an air of doom and gloom, I face my new career with a measured sense of optimism and even confidence. Thanks for reading!

UX Designer, creative problem solver and copywriter in a past life.

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